


Never Enough

by eiqhties



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Niall is a dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-30 17:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5173451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiqhties/pseuds/eiqhties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Niall as parents; excerpts from the life of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Louis

“I, um, I want you to meet Niall and Eabha,” Zayn says to him, one day. They’re in their poky apartment, Zayn sitting at the breakfast table. His cup of coffee is in front of him, and he’s twisting all the rings on his fingers nervously. He’s nervous. It’s obvious how nervous he is, because as soon as he sees he has Louis’ attention, he starts awkwardly fumbling in his pockets. Pulls out tobacco and starts rolling a cigarette.

Louis looks at him, with wide eyes and blurts out,“You mean it?” Before he can stop himself. He just, he has to check, because Zayn’s been dating Niall for six months now, but he’s still so hesitant. So hesitant, and so careful.

Zayn is gentle at the best of times, but it’s a whole other side of him when he’s talking about Niall, about Eabha. He’s been hiding Niall and Eabha from the rest of the world, keeping them tucked away. Hidden. Close to his chest.

Harry managed to meet Niall a while back, entirely by accident. He bumped into Zayn and Niall one day when they were out on a date. Wouldn’t shut up about how cute they were, afterwards. About how Niall and Zayn had looked like a proper couple. About how it was clear that Zayn was properly into Niall. He’s been pestering Zayn since then, determined to find out when Zayn is going to properly introduce all of them to each other.

Niall has a baby girl, Zayn says, whenever Harry brings it up now. Niall has a baby girl, and he has to be careful. He doesn’t want to upset her. He doesn’t want her to meet more people that could be leaving.

Louis hasn’t said it, but he’s seen the way Zayn smiles when his phone lights up with a text. He’s seen the way Zayn talks about the two of them, Niall and Eabha. He knows that Zayn isn’t leaving this if it kills him.

He’s invested, trapped, caught completely in the tangle of these two people’s lives. Louis hasn’t said, because he doesn’t think he needs to. He thinks Zayn probably knows for himself.

“Yeah,” Zayn says, then coughs, trying to cover the nervous hitch in his voice, “I mean, it’s been six months, innit? S’about time that I introduce Niall to you.”

“Can Liam come?” Louis asks, and Zayn’s eyes get tight. He knows why, he’s been dating Liam half the time that Niall’s been dating Zayn. Zayn doesn’t want more fragile relationships. More tenuous connections. He leaves it for now. Louis’ determined to make his relationship with Liam last. There will be plenty of time for the full blurring of lines, later.

“Never mind, eh, mate? S’enough that you’re letting me meet Niall, finally. I was starting to think you’d made him up,” Louis agrees, nodding.

Zayn smiles, tongue pressing against his teeth, eyes going fond, “Sometimes I think I made him up.”

It’s testament to how much of a good friend Louis is, that he doesn’t use this information to tease Zayn mercilessly. He could.This is the kind of sappy stuff that Louis is pretty sure he gets free reign to slag off, what with being Zayn’s best friend. He doesn’t, though. Doesn’t, because there’s something new about this situation.

Louis has known Zayn a long time, known him since they were both thirteen, and he’s never seen him get like this before. Never seen him so soft, like watercolours seeping into paper. Like marshmallow, melting in front of a fire. He wants to poke, to prod and tease, but it’s so hard when Zayn smiles like that.

Louis really wants to meet the person that caused it.

*

Niall’s house is small, but nice. It’s red brick, set back on a little street, away from the main road. There’s various different flowerpots in the tiny front yard, as well as a toppled over Iron Man scooter. Louis looks at it wistfully. The door is painted a navy blue, tiny window in it.  Zayn walks up to it like it’s the scariest thing he’s ever done.

“We can leave, if you want.” Harry says, and Louis elbows him in the stomach. It took them six months to get here, he’s not going to give Zayn the chance to chicken out on them again.

“We can’t,” Louis says. “You’re the one that drove us here. We have no method of transport to leave.” Louis made sure of that, actually. Practically forced Zayn into driving them there. It’s not even true, really, because Liam would give Louis a lift back, easy, but Zayn doesn’t need to know that.

Zayn looks at him like he knows what he’s doing, but doesn’t call him out on it. Instead, he raises his fist to the door, and knocks, three times, in quick succession, then twice slowly.

Instantly, there’s the sound of someone running around behind the door, “Dad! Dad! Zayn’s here! I heard his knock! _Dad_!” Louis looks at Zayn, wordlessly.

“You have a _knock_.” He says, delighted. The smile creeps slowly across his face, and Zayn sees it and flushes. He’s still playing with his rings, shoulders still hunched, like he’s trying to get away from Louis’ gaze,

“Fuck off, Louis.”

Louis opens his mouth to retort, but there’s the sound of someone laughing, and the door clicking open, and then Niall and his daughter are standing in front of him.

“Zayn!” The girl shrieks. She’s wearing a pink dress with a picture of sleeping beauty on the front, and her long brown hair is being held in place with a fluffy purple tiara. She’s adorable. Louis can see that she’s adorable, and the second Zayn sees her, he grins. All the tension from before leaves him the second the two of them have eye contact.

“Hey, little princess,” He says, leaning down to scoop her up. “How’ve you been, then? Good for your dad?”

“She’s been a nightmare,” Niall says, laughing, “Thinking about sending her away, innit, Eabha?” He pokes her softly in the stomach, “You’ve been a right troll.”

“No I haven’t!” The girl says, fighting back by jabbing her dad in the cheek. Zayn laughs.

“Nah, she hasn’t,” Niall amends, leaning forward to kiss Zayn. Louis watches them, the easy domesticity between them. If he didn’t know better, he would think that they had been a family for years. “She’s been good as gold. Proper princess. Isn’t that right?”

“Right,” Eabha nods, baby face serious, eyes wide. Niall looks at her fondly for a second before hitting Zayn companionably on the shoulder.  

“So, Eabha, why don’t you take Zayn and get him to help you with the food, yeah, big girl? I’ll do the introductions seeing as Zayn’s left his visitors standing on the doorstep.”

This seems to be the first that Zayn and Eabha remember of Harry and Louis’ existence. Eabha instantly buries her face in Zayn’s neck, shyness apparently taking over now there’s new people in the equation. Zayn looks embarrassed, and starts stuttering,

“Um, yeah, these are. This is, these are-.”

Niall takes this all in his stride. He ignores the two of them, and instead smiles at Louis and Harry. Louis grins sunnily back. Niall isn’t what he was expecting, really. He looks too young to be a proper dad, all skinny limbs and smiles with dyed blonde hair and blue eyes. He can see how Zayn ended up so transfixed, though. Niall is exactly his type.

“I’m Louis,” He says, “This is Harry, I think you met him a while back.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Niall says, and he shoves a flustered looking Zayn further into the house, his daughter still trying to pretend that Louis and Harry aren’t there. Still in Zayn’s arms. “Go check on the pasta and make yourself useful,” Niall tells him, easily.

Zayn gives an awkward, one handed salute back, wandering off. He navigates the place easily, with comfort. Avoiding the half tidied, half scattered toys, even though he’s not looking at them.

“So, you’re the infamous Niall?” Louis asks, and he’s still assessing, still constantly watching. Louis is a good judge of character. He believes this. Sometimes he thinks it’s one of the only good things about him. Louis knows how invested Zayn is in Niall and his daughter. He just wants to know how invested they are, back.

Niall just laughs, “Well, don’t know if I could be claimed as any kind of famous, really,” His accent is thick, surprising, in a way. He knew Niall was Irish, but Niall is _Irish_. “Unbless, like. Does Zayn talk about me a lot, then?” He says it quickly, like he’s embarrassed even to be asking. Puts a hand over his face as soon as he has, and says, “Christ, I sound like a child.”

Harry snorts, “Don’t worry, Zayn never shuts up about you.”

Louis nods, “Yeah, proper smitten. It’s a bit ridiculous, mate.”

Niall goes red, smile on his face visible through his fingers, even as he ducks his head, “Stop it,” He says, “You’re making me blush.”

Harry laughs, then, pushes his hair back from his face and says, “If you want to get to know Louis, then there’s going to be a lot of that. Our mate, Liam, yeah? Used to be proper on the straight and narrow. Two months into dating Louis, and he’s sneaking us into the school where he works for a late night olympics.”

Niall looks at Louis, eyes wide, but amused, “Did you win?” He asks, and Harry snorts.

“Nah, he lost to Liam’s co-worker, Jade. Tragically.”

Louis kicks Harry in the calf, and then looks at Niall. Niall's eyes are flicking between the two of them like he's trying to decide what to think. Louis just waves, smiles again, and Niall laughs. Shaking his head and beckoning them further into the house. Louis knows, right then, that he and Niall are going to get on very well. 

*

Dinner is nice. Niall and Harry start talking like they’ve known each other for years, and Zayn watches the whole thing, frown on his face.

“I think I might have competition,” He says, when he and Louis are alone together in the kitchen. He’s watching the way Niall cracks up laughing at something Harry says. He looks nice when he laughs, Niall does. Like his body is made for it. Louis watches him, looks at the way Eabha is sitting on Harry’s lap, messing with his hair.

There’s a furrow between Zayn’s eyebrows, now, and Louis laughs at him, shoves him in the shoulder, “Chill out, mate, anyone with eyes can see how pathetic you and Horan are for each other. Honestly, it’s ridiculous.”

Zayn smiles, ducks his head back to the plate that he’s currently washing, “I’m pretty gone for him, Lou.” He says it softly.

Louis rolls his eyes, “I know. Honestly the only thing I don’t get is why you waited so long to introduce us all. Niall’s great.”

Zayn turns to look at him, eyes serious, “He’s got a _kid_ , Louis. I’m not, like, I don’t want her to think that she’s meeting all these new people, and they’re not planning to stick around.”

Louis stares at him, “Zayn, you’ve been planning to stick around since day one, look at you, you’re washing dishes, mate. We’ve lived together for years, and the most I’ve seen you do housework is to move your dirty dish from the table to the counter. Now look at you, a proper domestic god.”

Zayn doesn’t look convinced, “I don’t want to, like, make assumptions. I mean, we haven’t even said I love you yet.”

“Do you need to?” Zayn glares at him and Louis holds his hands up, the symbol of innocence. “I’m just saying, mate, I’ve seen her and you together, yeah? She’s like you, innit.”

Zayn blinks at him, plate still soaking wet, loose in his hand, “What?”

“She waited, like, two hours into the night until she’d talk to me and Harry, Niall doesn’t do that. She’s just, like,” Louis scratches a hand through his hair, frustrated that Zayn’s not _getting_ it, until he turns to look at Eabha, smiles. Then says, “I mean, Zayn, look at her now.”

They both turn, look through the door of the kitchen, and she’s there, sitting on Harry’s lap, completely zoned out of the conversation. There’s a pile of paper in front of her, and she’s hunched over it, drawing.

Zayn watches her, leans against the sink and smiles, the gentlest smile that Louis has ever seen on his face. The barest quirk of his mouth, most of it in his eyes. Louis looks between the two of them. Looks at the way she's scribbling, the way she doesn't seem interested in the other people around her, the way she presses herself against the people she trusts, but doesn't look at the people she doesn't, “Zayn," He says, "She’s practically half your girl already.”

Zayn swallows. Looks between them all again, and then passes the dish to Louis, “M’gonna go in there,” He says. Louis looks at him, watches the way that both Niall and his daughter turn as he steps back into the same room as them. It's like they're all tied together, like a gravitation pull.

Louis watches the way Eabha jumps off Harry’s lap, shows Zayn her drawing and he smiles, wraps an arm around her and says he’ll put it on his fridge. Watches the way Niall looks at the two of them, soft around the edges like he’s only lit up by candlelight. Watches the way the three of them all fall into each other, like they don't even realise how much they're all completing the picture. How you couldn't take any one of them out of it. 

Harry catches Louis’ eye, pulls a face. Louis pulls one back, drops the plate into the sink.

He’s going to go text Liam.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time that Zayn and Eabha meet.

The first time that Zayn met Eabha, he was terrified.

It was two months into dating Niall, and Niall had opened the door to his house, hair sticking up in random directions. There’s a girl - his daughter, _Eabha_ \- standing behind him, hovering a metre or so behind him, as if she thought that Zayn posed a threat to her.

“Oh god,” He’d said, “We have a date, don’t we? I’m so sorry, I completely forgot, and I was gonna call Greg but he’s held up today anyway, and, like, Willie’s in work so he can’t mind her.”

Zayn had just shook his head, smiled, looked at the girl, at Niall’s _daughter._ Her hair is dark brown, and it’s in plaits that are starting to fall out. She’s wearing bright green leggings and a black top covered in stars, her feet are bare, and she’s rocking up onto her toes - as though she’s nervous. Her eyes are wide and frightened, and Zayn stares at her, and feels something in his throat tighten at the sight.

“It’s cool,” Zayn says to Niall, still looking at Eabha. “We can reschedule, if you want?”

“Um,” Niall’s eyes flick between Zayn and Eabha, and he chews on his thumbnail for a moment. “Or, you could come in, if you want?”

Zayn looks at Eabha, who’s still standing there, mouth turned down into a frown. Slowly, he crouches down until he’s on his haunches and then says, “Is that alright with you?”

She looks up at Niall, and he nods - bottom lip caught under his teeth, as though he’s trying to decide whether or not he should grin. “It’s cool,” Niall says. “I did the check. He’s alright, little miss.”

“Who are you?” Eabha asks, and her accent is a mangled mess of the city around her and Niall’s own Irish one. Zayn grins, hopelessly endeared.

“M’Zayn,” He tells her. Still on his haunches. It’s starting to wreck his thighs, but he figures that it’s worth it for the way Eabha is slowly walking towards him. “I’m your dad’s friend.”

“Dad’s mentioned you,” Eabha says. “He says you’re real good at art.”

Zayn flicks his eyes up to Niall, who’s now beet red and avoiding looking at the two of them, eyes focused on the wall in front of him. “Did he, yeah? I hear you’re into art, too, innit?” She nods. “Sick,” Zayn says, and holds his closed fist out. She looks at it for a few seconds - and Zayn tries not to feel hopelessly embarrassed that he’s about to get rejected for a fistbump by a five year old.

He hovers, awkwardly suspended - when slowly, slowly Eabha’s hand creeps out, fingers curled into her chubby fist. Then, gently, she taps her fist against Zayn’s.

“No way!” Zayn says, completely unable to stop the smile from lighting up his whole face. “That was the best fistbump that anyone’s ever given me, like. You a superhero?”

Eabha’s whole face flushes a pleased pink, and she reaches up - twisting her fingers in the folds of Niall’s jeans. “Did’ja hear, dad? M’a superhero!”

“Are you?” Niall asks, bending down and swooping her up into his arms. She settles against his hip, laughing wildly - her bare feet thumping against the flesh of his stomach. Niall laughs too, his head tilting backwards. He glances at Zayn as he does, and Zayn looks at the two of them.

He watches the way Eabha’s head tucks into the juncture between Niall’s neck and his shoulder, but her face is still focused on Zayn, smile wide. The two of them look so comfortable, together - their faces lit up in the same way from their happiness, their teeth showing.

Zayn loves Niall’s laugh - it was what made him go over to Niall in the first place, made him stutteringly ask for a number, face bright red with embarrassment. Niall had grinned then, too, typed it into Zayn’s mobile and warned him not to play hard to get. Then he’d frozen, jerked his hand towards Zayn and said. “Shit, I mean. I didn’t. This is the first time this has happened to me since - um, Eabha.”

Zayn had stared; at the time he’d been convinced that Niall was talking about an ex, until Niall had put his face in his hands and said, “I have a daughter. Um, a little girl. I just. It might be a problem?”

Right here - watching the way Niall’s daughter is bent to fit the shape of his body - Zayn doesn’t see how anything could ever be a problem again. The shape of their smiles is the exact same, and Zayn takes one deep breath in. This is it for him - he doesn’t think that he’s ever getting out of this one alive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief moment At Home

Zayn hums as he lets himself in; Niall gave him a key a few weeks back and he still can’t believe it. Not that he’s ever really been able to understand it; the easy way which Niall has opened up to him, let him in. Most of the time that he’s around Niall and Eabha, he’s half convinced that he dreamed them up, completely unable to cope with the fact that he actually gets this, he actually has this in his life. 

He smiles as the door creaks open - Eabha’s laughing at something, her high pitched voice carrying loudly from the living room. He bites his bottom lip, smiling. 

Tiptoeing quietly in, so that they don’t hear him coming - he peeks his head around the door. There, Eabha is standing, she has a  _ Frozen  _ t-shirt on today, Elsa’s face plastered across the pudginess of her baby stomach. Niall is sitting on the sofa, a white towel over his head. 

“No, da!” Eabha shrieks, happily. “You  _ can’t  _ be Olaf!” 

Niall frowns, “Why not?” He asks. “He was my favourite in the movie, yeah?” 

“Yeah, but you can’t be him!” 

“Alright,” Niall says, sighing. He pulls the towel off his head, and swaps it for a plastic blue tiara. “What about Elsa, then? I reckon I’d be pretty good as a princess.” 

“No,” Eabha says. She crosses her arms with authority. 

“No?” Niall gasps, back. He takes the tiara off. “Why can’t I, Eabha? You’re killing me here, baby.” 

“Because you’re far too warm when I hug you da! You can’t control the ice when you’re that warm.” 

Niall’s whole face lights up - and he lunges forwards from the sofa, scooping Eabha up and bouncing her up and down. Eabha lets out a squeal, squirming in Niall’s arms. From his spot - peeking in the doorway - Zayn presses a hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

Watching Niall with Eabha is one of Zayn’s favourite things. He’s soft with her - gentle in a way Zayn still can’t believe that anyone can be. Eabha’s mother had never been in the picture, according to Niall - it had always just been the two of them. Zayn wonders if Niall knows how obvious that is; the fierce protectiveness in his eyes when he talks about his daughter, the way she’ll always run to him first, out of everyone in the room. 

“So I can’t be Olaf, and I can’t be Elsa?” Niall asks. 

“No!” Eabha cries, laughing hysterically; at some point, Niall has managed to twist Eabha in his arms so that he’s now holding her upside down, tight grip on her calves - just under her knees. Her face is bright red, and she looks delighted. 

“Alright,” Niall says, laying her down gently on the floor. She’s still laughing, weaker now, and Niall gets down on all fours, leaning over her - the grin bright on his face. “I’ll be Sven, then. Your trusty steed!” 

“Does that make me Kristoph, then?” Zayn asks, finally pushing into the room. He tries not to melt at the way both of them grin at the sight of him. 

He definitely fails. 

“I think you’d be a good prince,” Niall nods. He pushes back from his reindeer position, so that he’s now sitting on the carpet with his scrawny legs crossed under him. “I mean, you were definitely my prince charming.” 

Zayn’s whole stomach turns to mush. One of these days Niall is going to send him into cardiac arrest, just by sheer over-sincerity.

“Kristoph isn’t a  _ prince,  _ da!” Eabha says, scowling. Her exclamation effectively cuts over Zayn getting too cheesy in reply. Instead, he laughs at the affronted look on Niall’s face. 

“Well  _ excuse  _ me,” He says. “I was under the impression that he marries princess Ana.” 

“He does!” 

“Well then, monkey. That makes him a prince, yeah?” Niall looks positively indignant, now. Zayn snorts, and Niall turns on him, sticking out his tongue. “You’re not getting out of this one, Malik. Explain it to her!” 

“Why can’t you?” Zayn asks. Niall glares, and Zayn holds his hands up in defeat, walking across the room to sit next to Niall and slump against him. Niall smiles, and tips his head onto Zayn’s shoulder. 

Eabha looks at the two of them curiously. “So, how does it make him a prince?” She asks. 

“Well, Zayn says, leaning over so that he’s closer to Eabha. She looks at him, eagerly. “You know the way when a girl like Cinderella marries a prince, she becomes a princess?” Eabha nods. “The same works the other way round, yeah? When Kristoph marries Ana, he can become a prince.”

“Oh,” Eabha frowns, looking away, as if she’s thinking seriously about this. “So if Zayn was Kristoph, he would be a prince?” 

“Zayn’s already a prince,” Niall says. Zayn elbows him, embarrassed. “But, yeah, monkey. That’s how it would work.” 

“That’s cool!” Eabha grins. “I guess that works, okay. So, da, you’re Sven, Zayn you’re Kristoph, and I’m Ana.” 

Niall laughs. “That sounds alright to me, monkey.” 

Eabha’s nose wrinkles up, “No, da! I’m not a monkey anymore! I’m a  _ princess _ .” 

Niall looks at Zayn, his shoulders shaking slightly with barely suppressed laughter. Then, he turns back to Eabha. “I’m sorry, of course, your highness,” At this, he tilts forwards - the sitting down approximation of bowing. “That sounds alright to me, princess.” 

“Good,” Eabha says, haughtily. She wanders over to her toybox, and pulls out a plastic crown, which she jams sloppily onto Zayn’s head. “Here you go!” She says, grinning. 

Zayn shakes his head, smiling back at her. “Thank you, your highness,” He says - and Eabha grins, the same one that always reminds Zayn of Niall - and makes him feel ten times soppier because of it. Niall is looking between the two of them, clearly delighted. 

“Who’d have thought,” NIall says, “A simple reindeer like me, getting to be in the presence of such royalty.” 

“Don’t be silly, da,” Eabha says. “You’re not a simple reindeer, you’re a  _ special  _ one.” 

The look on her face is all too familiar, and Zayn laughs, resigning himself to hours of playing Eabha’s prince. 

Not that he minds that much, of course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was this my favourite thing to write? What? Me? Prove it. 
> 
> ALSO look, I strongly dislike the film _Frozen_ for a lot of reasons - but I have a five year old sister and goddamn if I haven't spent FAR TOO LONG holding an Elsa Barbie doll as Bets talks to me with her 'Punzle (Rapunzle) one. I have sat through many fake tea parties, okay? Zayn and Niall deserve to suffer as I have. 
> 
> As always at least part of the credit goes to Pia [kissingzial](http://kissingziall.tumblr.com). This is (sort of) as much her baby as it is mine. The sort of here is bc I'm p sure that this one was all my headcanon and LOOK I just had a lot of fun with this one? Okay? I'm sorry, Pia. You know I love you. There's more coming.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions

Niall is half asleep on the sofa. His legs are resting on Zayn’s thighs, and Zayn is engrossed in his book. It’s called  _ A Spot of Bother,  _ and he hasn’t heard anything Niall’s asked him since he picked it up. Niall wonders if he’ll ever stop finding Zayn’s ability to get completely lost in a book adorable. Somehow, he doesn't think so. 

Niall himself is only vaguely paying attention to the match on screen - it’s a repeat from last night, and he only put it on because it was that or some terrible movie from the sy-fy channel. He’s just drifted off, when Eabha barrels into the room, the door smacking into the wall and startling him awake. Today, she’s dressed up as Minnie Mouse - Harry had been in America, recently, and he’d come back with far too many presents for Eabha, and none for Zayn and Niall. 

“Sorry,” Harry had shrugged, grinning when Zayn had asked him about it. 

“You should be, Styles,” Zayn had glared back. “I bought you that shirt when I went to Portugal.” 

“Da!” Eabha shouts, and Niall practically falls off the sofa in surprise. Zayn finally looks up from his book, amusement clear on his face. 

“Careful there,” He says. Niall scowls at him. Sometimes he forgets that zoning out when you have a daughter just isn’t possible. 

“Jesus, god, Eabha! You’re right beside me, you don’t have to shout! What is it?” He asks her. 

“When are you going to die?” She asks. Niall chokes. 

“Y -  _ what _ ?” He says. Completely at a loss for words. Out of all the bizarre things Eabha has asked him over the years,  _ when are you going to die  _ definitely takes the cake for weirdest. Niall looks at Zayn, who’s now put his book on the coffee table, and is watching this discussion unfold with barely suppressed delight. 

Niall is going to kill  _ him  _ when Eabha leaves the room. 

“I want to know when you’re going to die,” Eabha repeats. 

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because, when you die I want a new da,” Eabha crosses her arms, pouting at him. Niall slowly sits up, looking between her and Zayn, bewildered. 

“What’s wrong with me that you’d replace me so soon?” Niall asks. He wonders if it’s rational to panic that your five year old daughter is going to leave you - from the look on Zayn’s face, he definitely doesn’t thinks so. 

“If your da dies, your granny Maura or granda Bobby would look after you, monkey,” Zayn cuts in, before Eabha can answer. He looks like he’s about five seconds away from bursting into laughter. 

“Or Zayn,” Niall tells her. Eabha looks at Zayn, wide eyed. 

“Really?” She asks. Zayn flounders on the sofa, clearly trying to think of what to say to her. Niall gets a smug sense of satisfaction from it; that will teach him to laugh at Niall’s misery. 

“Sure,” Zayn says, eventually. He’s looking at Niall as he answers her, eyes careful - like he doesn’t know that Niall would give him anything in the world, just if he wanted it. Like he’s still unaware just how much he means to him and Eabha. “Of course I’d look after you, monkey. Why are you so worried, though? Your da’s not going to die, yeah? Reckon he’d fight through anything to mind you.”  

“I need to make sure there’s someone to look after me. I can’t live on my own!” Eabha says, flinging her arms out. “I don’t know how to work the oven!” 

This time, Zayn actually does burst out laughing. “Is that what you’re upset about?” He asks her. Eabha frowns. 

“Yes! Da says that it’s bad for you to only eat microwaved things, and Miss in school was telling us that we have to be healthy, but how can I be healthy if I only know how to use the microwave?” 

“So you’re worried that I’m going to die and you’re going to get unhealthy?” Niall asks her. He needs to double check this. 

“ _ Yes _ ,” Eabha says. She sounds exasperated - as if Niall should have been expecting a conversation like this. Beside him, Zayn has his hand on his stomach - and he’s shaking he sofa with his laugher. Niall hits him in the arm, and leans over, looking at his daughter, seriously. 

“Okay, monkey. I want you to listen to me really carefully, because what I’m about to say is important, okay?” 

“Yes, da!” Eabha nods, her eyes meeting him directly. 

“If something bad happens to me, you won’t be on your own, okay? Zayn will look after you, and your granny and granda, alright?” Eabha opens her mouth, as if to speak, but Niall holds up his hand. “ _ But _ ,” He says, “In case something really,  _ really  _ bad happens, how’s about your da starts teaching you how to cook?” 

Zayn smiles at him, mouths, ‘sap’. Niall pulls a face at him, looking back to Eabha. Her whole face has lit up, she looks completely entranced - bouncing up and down excitedly on her toes. “Really, da? You’d let me help you and stuff?” 

“Of course. I’ll teach you to cook,” He glances at Zayn out of the corner of his eye and smirks. “Zayn, too. Did you see how bad his toast is?”

Eabha nods, solemnly. “It was burnt.” 

“Stop insulting me,” Zayn says. 

Niall grins, looking at the insulted look on Zayn’s face.  “You’re just too easy to poke fun at,” He tells him. Eabha nods again, then pokes Zayn in the stomach. Zayn doubles over, laughing - then he reaches out and pulls Eabha onto the sofa with him. Niall looks at the two of them, shaking his head slowly. Maybe one day he'll be able to believe it. 


	5. Chapter 5

“So, then Miss said that we’re all going to get to design our own heroes for the story! It’s super cool,” Eabha is saying. She’s sitting at the kitchen table, head in her hands, watching as Zayn makes the pasta for their dinner. 

“Yeah, babe? That sounds cool,” Zayn says. He’s not looking at her, too focused on trying not to let any sauce around the sides burn. Niall has only left him alone with the food for a while, even Zayn shouldn’t even be able to ruin it in that time. It’s why he doesn’t register it, at first. 

“It is! So I told miss that my dad is super good at art, so she said that I’d have to ask you for help, yeah? So will you help me?” 

Zayn laughs, turning off the ring of the oven picking up the plates for their dinner, and turning around to put them on the table. “Of course I will, monkey. Dunno why you said that your da’s good at art, though. He can’t even draw a straight line with a ruler.” 

Eabha frowns, her forehead wrinkling. “What? I didn’t say that da is good at art! I was talking about you, dad!”

Zayn drops all three of the plates in his hands. They fall to the floor, smashing on impact, and Eabha jumps. Looking at them with wide eyes, then back up at Zayn. 

“Don’t move, Eabha,” Zayn says, sucking a breath in. She’s only got socks on. “You might cut your feet.” 

There’s the sound of someone running, then Niall appears in the door of the kitchen, red faced. He puts a hand over his heart. “Jesus christ,” He says. “You two scared the shit out of me, what with that almighty crash and all. What happened?” 

“No swearing,” Eabha says, waggling her finger at him. Niall pulls a face. 

“No giving me a premature heart attack, then. What the hell, Zayn? Did you decide to smash up the whole kitchen?” Niall’s looking at the mess of the plates with shock. 

“Sorry,” Zayn is still kind of speechless. He knows, really, that he should be sweeping up the mess, clearing the plates and serving the food. He can’t; he’s unable to move, staring at Eabha with a look of wordless wonder on his face. Niall stares at him, then looks to his daughter, who’s still kind of pale, her feet now tucked up on the chair that she’s sitting on. 

“What happened, monkey?” He asks. Eabha shrugs. 

“I don’t know, da! I was just talking to dad,” At this, she points at Zayn, “About the art thing I’m doing in school, and how I told miss that my dad is good at art, and then he got all weird and dropped the plates.” 

Niall looks at Zayn, who’s still pale, standing in the middle of their kitchen, and he laughs. “Did he?” He asks Eabha, “That was a silly thing for your dad to do, wasn’t it?”

Zayn blinks, his eyes snapping to Niall’s in clear surprise. “What?” He croaks, trying to figure out what Niall is saying - if he’s saying what Zayn thinks he means. 

Niall just smiles, tiptoeing across the smashed ceramics and lifting Eabha up. “Here, monkey, go wait in the living room while I sort out this mess, okay? Your dad is a stupid one, yeah?” 

“Yeah!” Eabha nods, wrapping her arms around Niall’s neck as he bends down, allowing herself to be carried across the danger zone. “Don’t take too long, though! I’m really hungry.” 

Niall salutes her, nodding. “Message received, baby.” 

Then, he turns back around to Zayn, who swallows - not sure what to do with the softness that’s settled itself around the edges of Niall’s face. He looks like something that should be hung up in an art gallery; renaissance expressionism - blurred edges and light, captured in front of him. 

Niall grabs the brush, starts carefully sweeping the ceramic into a neat pile. Zayn watches him do it, still rooted to the spot. Eventually, he manages to croak out, “I didn’t tell her to say that.” 

Niall looks up, eyebrows raised in surprise. He leans against the brush. “Ask her to say what?” 

“Dad,” Zayn coughs. “I would never - I’m not. Niall, I would never take that away from you. I’m, I’m not trying to, like. I know I’m not her dad.”

Niall looks surprised, then. His eyebrows are high - almost meeting his hairline. “Why not?” He asks. 

Zayn swallows, confused. “I’m not-”

“Biologically related? Does that matter? You’re not biologically related to Louis, either - but that doesn’t stop you from having a matching tattoo with him, or calling him your brother,” Almost subconsciously, Zayn moves his hand, clasping it over the _ bus 1  _ tattoo he’s had for far too long. “Your parents aren’t biologically related either. In fact, it would be illegal if they were. Doesn’t stop them from being family, does it?” 

“Well, no, but -”

Niall holds up his hand, stopping Zayn from saying any more. “But nothing. Zayn, if my baby wants to call you her dad then I’m not going to stop her,” He leans the brush against the counter opposite Zayn, carefully picking his way across the floor so that he can stand, pressed up against Zayn entirely. Zayn sighs against him, leaning their foreheads together. 

“Zayn,” Niall says, slowly. He moves his hands to Zayn’s hips, and Zayn exhales again, shakily. 

“Yeah?” 

“I love you. She loves you. If she wants to call her your dad, let her. You’re family, okay? You'll always be our family.” 

Zayn nods, the smallest movement of his head - his forehead still pressed to Niall. Niall kisses him, chaste, and then pulls away. He’s smiling so bright that Zayn feels like he has sunspots in his eyes. 

“C’mon then,” Niall says. “Get the dustpan, yeah? We need to clean up your mess, you nightmare.” 

“I love you,” Zayn tells him. Niall just laughs. 

“I know,” He says, “Idiot.” 


	6. Chapter 6

“Mate, we should do this again sometime,” Liam says. They’re standing at Niall’s front door, and Niall grins. 

It had been weird at first. Liam had felt like he shouldn’t be hanging out with Niall alone, because they’d met through Zayn and Louis. Initially, the two of them had been hesitant around each other - trying to figure out their relationship without their partners to buffer against. Sometimes, Liam feels like a third wheel when he’s with Zayn and Louis; their friendship has spanned so long that nothing else touches it. 

It doesn’t matter, though. Now, Liam likes Niall. He’s one of those people that it’s easy to settle into a routine, with. Liam thinks of him as the brother he never got. Not that he doesn’t love his sisters, but it’s good to have someone to talk about sports with. For all Louis likes football, he’s rubbish when it comes to other things, like basketball. 

Niall loves all that stuff, gets excited when he can get out of the house for it. Not that Liam can blame him; being a single dad before Zayn came along was probably a nightmare - Liam’s heard enough complaints from Ruth to know that babysitters aren’t exactly cheap. It could be a lot worse, though: Eabha is one of the sweetest kids that Liam’s ever met. She’s all bright smiles and careful hands. 

“Yeah, it was class,” Niall replies, he’s unlocking his front door, the blue paint on it bright and fresh - as though it was done up recently. “Louis’ still coming over later, yeah?” 

“Yeah, that’s what he said,” Liam tells him. “You know how he is about any time spent with Eabha. He loves it. Why?” 

“Just need to check how much I’m gonna have to cook. I swear, Eabha’s starting to eat me out of house and home. I dunno where she puts it all.”

“I seem to remember you eating a lot there now,” Liam says, grinning. Niall pulls a face. 

“God, don’t remind me. I’m never touching popcorn again. I don’t even like it that much,” He says, shouldering open the door. He holds it open for Liam, bowing dramatically as Liam walks in front of him. Liam laughs. 

Inside the house, it’s quiet - almost silent. If Niall hadn’t told him on the way back that Zayn and Eabha were in, Liam would assume that the house was empty. Niall doesn’t seem bothered by the silence, instead, he kicks off his shoes and puts his finger to his lips. 

“C’mon,” He says, quietly. “I’ll bet you anything they’re in the living room together.” Liam nods, smiling, and follows behind Niall and Niall pads down the hallway of his house. 

Slowly, he pushes open the living room door and peers inside. When he does, his whole face melts - and it’s clear that he’s found them. Liam walks up beside him, and glances in. Zayn is lying in the middle of the floor on his stomach, a pad of paper in front of him, and a sharpie in his hand. He’s scribbling something, which, from where Liam is standing - looks sort of like the Bat Logo.

Eabha is lying on the floor as well, but she’s using Zayn’s calves as a table for her own notepad. Her art consists mainly of lumpy circles, but there’s enough form to them that Liam can tell she’s drawing people. 

Both of them are completely silent, the only noise in the room is the scratching of their respective tools - pen and crayon, respectively - against the paper. They could easily be doing this anywhere - but the fact that Eabha’s found a way to tangle herself with Zayn makes the picture all the sweeter. 

Niall is watching them, his head tipped against the frame of the door. He’s not smiling - but his eyes are so clear that he may as well be. The look on his face reminds Liam of how his sister’s husband had looked when she walked down the aisle, or the way his dad looks at his mum sometimes. It’s the soft, sappy kind of look you see in romantic movies - the one that references that there are years to come. 

Liam finds himself thinking about Louis, wondering if this is what he looks like when Louis’ talking. 

“You’re a sap, Niall,” Liam says, and Niall’s eyes flick back to him. He laughs. 

“Yeah, I know,” He’s talking at normal volume now, and Eabha looks up and sees him. “I can’t help it when these two are so adorable, though!” 

Eabha laughs, staggering to her feet and running to her dad. Niall lights up as she attaches herself to his leg, and he ruffles her hair. “Alright, monkey? How’s it going?” 

“Good,” She says, into Niall’s knee. “Me’n Zayn have been drawing.” 

Zayn pushes himself to his feet, standing and waving at Liam. “Alright, mate?” He says, smiling. Liam smiles back; it’s been too long since he saw Zayn. 

“Yeah, good. You?” 

Zayn laughs, “Just been watching this one all day,” He says back. “Not much else happening in my life.” 

“You don’t need anything else,” Niall tells him. Eabha has let go of his leg, now, and he uses the opportunity to walk over to Zayn and pat him on the stomach. “You’ve got us. That’s all you need, yeah?” 

“Yeah, definitely.” 

“You two are gross,” Liam says. Eabha nods. 

“I agree with Liam,” She says, her arms are folded and she looks very serious. Liam finds himself pursing his lips in order to hold back the laugh. Instead, he drops down to his haunches so that he’s at eye level with Eabha. 

“Thank you, Eabha,” He laughs. “You been reading any more comics?” 

Her eyes go wide, and she nods, eagerly. “Yeah! Zayn gave me all his old ones about Jason Todd, but I wanna get the ones about Barbara Gordon. She’s Batgirl.” 

Liam smiles, “I know. She’s cool.” 

“The coolest,” Eabha says. 

“Well, tell you what,” Liam starts. From the way that Eabha bounces onto her toes, she knows that she’s got him wrapped around her little finger: what Liam has to say to her now, will only benefit her. “I’ve got a load of old comics, d’you wanna borrow them?” 

“Oh my gosh,” Eabha says. She’s properly jumping now. “Yes! Yes, did you hear that, da? Liam’s gonna give me his comics!” 

“Borrow,” Niall says, Eabha just waves a hand at him. 

“Doesn’t matter, m’gonna read so many comics!” 

“You’re making my daughter a nerd, Payne,” Niall says. Liam laughs. 

“Nah, Zayn already laid the groundwork for that one. Don’t think I didn’t see you drawing Batman there, Zayno.” 

Zayn grins sheepishly. “Guilty as charged,” He says. Liam opens his mouth to reply, but is cut off by the sudden barreling force of Eabha, tackling him into a hug. Still perched only on his haunches, the force throws him off balance, and he ends up on his ass on Niall and Zayn’s living room floor, with a lapful of over-excited six year old. 

“Thank you, Liam!” Eabha shrieks in his ear. Liam laughs, patting her on the back. 

“No problem, Eabha. Anything for you, yeah?” She smiles, clambering off him. Liam stands up in the wake of her absence, and looks down at the top of her tangled brown hair. He’s going to go broody, he can feel it. Louis’ going to come later, and get him when he’s weak, and Liam is going to end up with a child of his own. 

Though - watching the weird, unconventional little family that Zayn, Niall and Eabha make - Liam could think of far worse things. Far, far worse things. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trisha Malik

When Zayn had first told her that his new boyfriend had a child, she’s been worried. Zayn was the sort of person to love wholly - weirdly intense about all the strangest things, and she was his mother. She’s allowed to be concerned about his wellbeing, especially if that has an impact on a  _ child.  _

Now, it seems so ridiculous to have been concerned. When Zayn called her up, shy, saying, “Mum, she called me her dad,” his happiness had been so thick that Trisha could taste it down the phoneline. 

“You’ve always been her dad,” She tells him, and, with all the benefit of hindsight - she can see how true that is. 

She watches them together, sometimes, whenever she manages to convince Zayn to get the two of them to come see her - she’ll sit in the room, a silent observer in the face of the family that Zayn managed to craft for himself. Niall, in so many ways, is the polar opposite of Zayn. He enters a room and manages to interest every person in it, he’s so, inherently  _ likable.  _ She finds herself looking at the yin yang on Zayn’s wrist, and comparing it to the way that the two of them are with each other: the dark and the light, both physically, and emotionally. It’s almost poetic. 

Eabha is the balance in between. When Louis had first met Niall and Eabha - he’d called Trisha right after, because what’s the use in knowing your son’s best friend for years, if you can’t occasionally get him to spy for you? 

“You’ll love these ones, Trish,” Louis had said. “Honest, they’re gonna be married in under five years, I bet you.” 

She knows what he means. The first time that she’d seen them together  Niall chewing on a thumbnail, and Eabha’s hand tight in Zayn’s own - she’d put her hand to her mouth at how much of an image they managed to create. The three of them together, a tangled unity, Zayn awkwardly introducing them with all the eloquence of his words that he hadn’t managed to practise, properly. 

She knows her son, knows him better than most - and she knows what he sounds like when he wants to be poetic. Zayn has no struggle with words, his struggle comes with expression. Watching him try to express his love for Niall is art in it’s own right. He’s all shy smiles and soft touches, blurred at the edges like his love is so pure it can’t even exist fully in the world around him. 

“You’re good together,” She’d told him, quietly, patting him on the hand. She’d watched the way his eyes glazed over, the smile had curled up on his mouth. 

“Thanks,” He’d muttered. “He’s. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me, yeah?” 

“I’m glad, baby,” She’d said, kissed him on the forehead. “You deserve it.” 

“I’m just. I’m terrified I’m going to mess it all up one day,” He says, to the table he’s sitting at, his finger tracing patterns in the wood. She smiles down at him. 

“You won’t,” She says. “She calls you dad, baby. You’re her family, now. I’m proud of you. You did good, baby.”

“Thanks, mum,” He’d said back. His smile had been one of the best things she’d ever seen. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Zayn accepts that he's Eabha's dad

Eabha doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand why Zayn sometimes still gets all quiet when she calls him dad and gets him to pick her up. She doesn’t get why sometimes her da has to nudge him when she’s talking to him, or why Zayn will look down at her and then press his hand to his heart, that big weird smile on his face. 

She doesn’t mind, either. She’s used to weird people in her life. Whenever Harry comes over, he insists on drawing pictures with her, and none of his ever look like  _ anything _ . They’re all wobbly and have  _ way  _ too many butterflies in them. So, like, Harry’s pretty weird. 

Her dad Zayn is definitely weirder, though. 

Like the one time, when her dad and da had taken her to the park and she’d been on the swings for  _ ages _ , but she got bored, because the swings are cool and all - but Louis had been telling her about how he used to take his baby sisters to the duck pond, which sounded aces. 

Not that she was a baby, or anything. Just. Ducks are pretty nice, Liam had bought her a hat with a duck on it, and she thought that the ducks might like to see that they were on a hat, because Eabha knew that if someone had a hat with  _ her  _ face on it, she’d be really excited. After all, her da had a cup with her face on it, and that had been one of the best things that had ever happened to her. 

So she’d gone to the duck pond. She’d been really careful about it, and she  _ had  _ waved at her dad and da. They just hadn’t been looking at her when she did. But she hadn’t meant to scare them, or anything. She just really wanted to see the duck pond. 

It had been so cool. It was starting to get warm - which meant that all the baby ducks were out, swimming in a line behind their mummy duck. There’d even been other birds, like the massive swans - which she was kind of frightened of, because apparently one chased her da once. 

But she’d been sitting at the edge of the pond, telling one of the green ducks by the edge all about her hat, and how it was to keep her warm, but also  _ it had ducks on it _ . She didn’t know if the duck was listening, but his head bobbed sometimes, so it seemed like he was saying yes. 

She called him Harry, in her head. The bobbing kind of reminded her of Harry. Also, ducks had strange faces, and Harry could pull some pretty strange faces. Not as funny as Louis’, but definitely weirder. 

She’d sat there for  _ ages  _ because the baby ducks were aces, like she thought they’d be. Also, she was trying to remember as much as possible - because Liam liked it when she talked about animals, and he was the one that got her the hat in the first place, and she wanted him to know how cool she thought it was, and how cool Harry thought it was. Harry the Duck, that is. Though the real Human Harry would probably like a duck hat as well. 

She’d have to show him the next time that he was over to visit. Maybe he’d draw a weird picture of a duck. Maybe her dad would draw her a picture of a duck. His pictures were the best of anyone’s. Even her teacher couldn’t draw pictures as well as her dad could. 

Then, just when she’s starting to get kind of bored of the ducks, because Harry the Duck doesn’t talk as much as Real Harry, her dad appears. His face is the weirdest of all the faces, even when Louis does that super funny one with his cheeks all puffed out and his eyes cross. Her dad kind of looks like he’s been crying, and his mouth is all wobbly, and she yells, 

“DAD!” At him, so he’ll come over and meet Harry the Duck with her. Except her dad just runs over to her - all funny running, nothing like her da or Louis when they’re playing football - and he picks her up and squeezes her  _ super  _ hard. Sort of like he’s trying to squash her. 

He’s talking, as well, all quick and panicked. “Yes, yes, baby. Yes, I am your dad. Oh my god, please, never do that to me again. Me, your dad. Jesus, Eabha, I think I had a heart attack. I think you killed me dead, baby. Is that what you want? To kill your dad?” And he’s pressing his face to her like he thinks she’s going to melt, or something. 

And then her da appears as well, and his face is all funny too. They both look really sad - like that time they watched Toy Story 3 with her, and her da wouldn’t speak for  _ ages  _ after and his eyes were all red and his voice was all croaky - and he starts squeezing her, too. 

And Eabha says, “Dad’s being weird, da! He says I nearly killed him.” 

And her da’s voice is all croaky, like a frog, but he still laughs and says, “Yeah? What’s Zayn saying then?” 

“He says I gave him a heart attack,” Eabha tells him, and both of their faces wobble and her dad says,

“I think you gave us both heart attacks, monkey. You cannot. You  _ cannot  _ ever go off on your own again like that, okay?” He sounds angry serious. Like when Eabha tries to cross the road without looking, or when she took the teachers scarf because she thought it was nice. 

Eabha feels bad. “I’m sorry,” She whispers into her dad’s shoulder. He squeezes her again. 

“It’s okay, monkey. Don’t do it to your dad’s again though, okay? We’re a lot older and clunkier than you, we can’t take it,” He whispers into her ear. She pokes him, gently. 

“Okay,” She says. 

Later, when she’s back in the house watching the Wallace and Gromit movie, she hears her dad say, “Niall. Niall, I’m her  _ dad _ ,” all low and serious. Which,  _ weird _ , because she’s been calling him her dad for  _ ages _ . Like, literally ages - because it was long enough for school to have  _ two holidays  _ since she first said it and he dropped all the plates. 

Weird. Everyone is weird. 

The Wallace and Gromit movie has rabbits in it. She wonders if she could get her da to buy her a rabbit. They seem pretty cool. Even cooler than ducks. Yeah. 

She should definitely ask for a rabbit. Who wouldn’t like one of those?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why the hell did I write this from Eabha's POV? I made things so unneccesarily awkward. 
> 
> ALSO it is my firm belief that Eabha is like, "Da! I want a rabbit?" And Niall's like, "Nooooooo, what about a dog instead?" but he still loses and they end up with this pet bunny that Niall spends most of his time angrily chopping carrots for.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaser

Yaser thinks Niall is a nice lad. He’s good for Zayn, encourages him to get out of his shell - do things that he wouldn’t normally do. That’s nice too, because Zayn needs a little push to do things, sometimes, otherwise he gets too caught up in his own head. 

Niall’s daughter was somewhat of a surprise, but she’s nice too. Tiny thing, with more hair than any one head should ever produce, all brown and tangly and she laughs like Niall, with a big wide mouth. Yaser thinks she’s sort of adorable. He spends a lot more time than he should passing her sweets behind Zayn and Niall’s back. 

They both know about it, of course - but everyone claims ignorance. 

When Trisha tells him that Eabha’s calling Zayn, “dad,” now, he laughs at how bewildered his son seems. It’s not like they haven’t been going in that direction for ages. And it’s good. It’s good that Zayn gets to have a family, and a daughter, and his boyfriend - because he deserves all of those things, and it could have been so difficult for him. 

So he smiles at Zayn, and Eabha, and he likes the fact that she calls his son, “dad”, likes having the little girl in his life. 

Then one day, Zayn brings them all over for dinner, because Trisha’s been hounding him for ages, and Niall always eats more than all the rest of them combined - which keeps Trisha happy anyway - because he compliments her the whole time he does it. 

Yaser opens the door, for them, and Niall has his hand around Zayn’s waist, and Eabha is in a bright pink dress, standing in front of the two of them, and when she sees him she yells, “Granda!” Like he’s the best thing she’s ever seen. 

Yaser stops, staring at her, eyes wide and kind of watery - and, well, if this is even half of how his son felt when he got called, ‘dad’ for the first time, Yaser can see why he was such a mess about it. 

“Dad?” Zayn asks. He looks amused, and Yaser realises that they’ve all been standing on the doorstep for far too long. He coughs. 

“Uh, sorry, c’mon in. Your mum’s cooking. All the food in the world.” 

“Is she making samosas?” Niall asks, he looks very eager. Yaser laughs. 

“I think so,” He says. “You can go see if you want. She’ll probably want help.” 

“I’m going,” Niall grins, he tugs Zayn’s arm. “C’mon. Your mum’s cooking is all I’ve been looking forward to all week.” 

“Sometimes I think you like my family more than you like me,” Zayn grumbles. Then he turns around to Yaser, who’s still sort of frozen in the one place, looking at Eabha with wide eyes. “Dad?” Zayn asks, looking even more amused. “You gonna come with us?” 

Yaser swallows, “What do you want to do, Eabha?” He asks, she looks up at him - her eyes wide and open. 

“I dunno? Can we draw or something, Granda! Dad says that he learned to draw because of you! I bet you’re real good.” She’s bouncing on her feet, now and her hands clap together. Yaser glances at Zayn, who’s watching the two of them fondly. 

“Well,” Yaser says. “You heard her. Me and my granddaughter are going to go and draw some pictures. Try not to eat all of the food before it’s even cooked.” 

“I’ll try,” Niall says seriously. “I promise nothing, though.” 

“Come on, Eabha,” Yaser says, holding out his hand. She takes it eagerly, smiling. “Me and you can go draw.” 

“Cool!” She says. “M’gonna draw some birds. Granny would like those, wouldn’t she?” 

Yaser laughs. “She’d love that,” He tells her, and makes a mental note to be in the room for the first time that Eabha calls Trisha, ‘granny’. He’s willing to bet that she’ll cry. He’s even more willing to bet that she’ll cook enough biscuits Yaser will be eating them for months afterwards. 

“Cool,” Eabha says again, and pulls him off to go draw some pictures. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maura

Zayn is practically gnawing off his fingernails by the time they get up to the door. Niall laughs, hitching Eabha higher on his hips and looking between the little house and where Zayn is standing five feet back, a look of complete horror on his face. 

“C’mon, Zayn. You can’t be that scared, can ya? It’s just my mum.” Niall leans against the door, Eabha still in his arms. The two of them look highly amused - and Zayn has the terrifying feeling that he’s being mocked. 

“Exactly. It’s your  _ mum _ ,” Zayn hisses. Eabha laughs at him. 

“Why are you scared, Dad? Granny Maura won’t shout at you. The only person she ever shouts at is da,” She pauses. “Sometimes uncle Greg, too.” 

Zayn grins, looking at Niall, who’s frowning at his daughter. “Eabha, don’t tell him that!” 

“Why not?” Eabha asks. “It’s true. You told me to always tell the truth.”

The look on Niall’s face is so hilariously disgruntled that it’s Zayn’s turn to crack up laughing. It’s at this point that the door to the house is swung open, and NIall nearly falls over due to leaning against it. On the other side, Maura is standing, looking unimpressed. 

“Jaysus,” She says, “Are yous just going to stand outside all day, or are you actually going to come in? I didn’t invite you down here to look at the outside of the house, you know.” 

“Though it looks lovely, mum,” Niall says, and bends to kiss her on the cheek. She slaps him on the arm, grinning and says. 

“Charmer. You going to introduce me to the peanut gallery?” She looks at Eabha in Niall’s arms. “Like this little girl, here. Who are you, now? I’d think you were our Eabha, but you’re far too big for that.” 

Eabha cackles, twisting in Niall’s arms until he sets her on the ground, then she flings herself at Maura. “Granny!” She says, “Look, dad’s here too, now!” She points at Zayn, and Zayn feels the bottom of his stomach drop out. 

“I, uh, hello,” He says. He wonders how much of his nail he can bite off in the next five seconds, and if he bites off enough and chokes on it - whether or not that would get him out of this conversation. Somehow, he doesn’t think so. 

Maura’s eyes spark, and she smiles. “Oh, so you’re a dad, are you?” She asks. Zayn shuffles forwards. 

“Hey,” He says. It comes out as a weak kind of croak, and he shuts his eyes in embarrassment. “Um, I’m, uh. Hey, I’m Zayn,” He holds out his hand to shake, and Maura takes it. Her grip is deceptively strong for being such a small woman. Zayn winces. 

Maura looks at Niall, and the curl of her mouth is amused. “So this is the young lad that’s got my Nialler all in  a twist. I guess you’ll have to come in, then.” 

“I guess so,” Niall smiles. “C’mon, ma, stop giving him such a hard time.” 

Maura shoos them all down the hallway and into the small living room. There’s so many sofas and armchairs crammed around the telly that there’s barely room to walk. The telly itself is muted on  _ Agatha Christie’s Poirot _ . 

“Do you’s want anything? Tea? Coffee?” 

“Tea would be good, mum,” Niall says, grinning at her. “I’ll do it, if you want?” 

“Nonsense. Barely get you over here as it is, and you’re a guest. Sit down. What about you, Zayn? What do you want?” 

“Um, I’m fine,” Zayn says. He regrets it instantly, and Maura looks at him critically. Then, she turns to Niall. 

“He wants tea,” Niall says. Maura laughs. 

“Alright,” She says. Then she looks at Eabha, who’s hovering by her waist. “Do you wanna come help your gran? I’ve got some biscuits in the cupboard. Been saving them for you.” 

“Yes!” Eabha fist pumps, and Zayn laughs at her. She turns to him. “Don’t laugh at me, dad. You got excited about doughnuts the other day.” 

Maura’s eyebrows raise again, and Zayn shrinks back into the sofa. “I like doughnuts,” He mutters. 

Maura just laughs, “I think all of us do, son. Don’t worry about it,” She takes Eabha by the hand. “Come on, me and you are going to go make the tea for your dad’s, love.”

When they leave the room, Niall turns to look at Zayn, smile wide on his face. “See?” He says, “I told you that she’d like you.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

“No, she does. Mum doesn’t make tea for just anyone, you know!” He raises his voice for the last bit, and Maura appears in the doorway again, arms crossed. 

“Of course not, but I’ve got to make tea for my son, haven’t I? And my son in law?”

The smile slips off Niall’s face, and he chokes on air, coughing. “What?” He splutters out. Zayn feels frozen between laughing at Niall’s reaction, and having a similar one himself. 

“Oh, sorry,” Maura does not look sorry at all. “I just assumed, you know. She’s calling Zayn dad, thought that you two were getting married.” 

Niall continues to cough. Maura, looking entirely too proud of herself, goes back to the kitchen to make tea. 


	11. Chapter 11

Zayn’s already in bed by the time Niall crawls in beside him. He’s reading  _ Peter Pan _ , by J.M. Barrie, and he looks soft and crumpled in the yellow light of the lamp. Niall presses a kiss to his cheek, and Zayn puts one of his rings in between the pages of the book before setting it on the bedside cabinet. 

“Y’alright, babe?” He asks, smiling. Niall drops his head onto Zayn’s shoulder and sighs. 

“Yeah, m’fine.” 

“I was thinking,” Zayn says, and then trails off. He sounds quiet and hesitant, and he’s twisting a different ring that’s still on his thumb. Niall touches his hand, gently. 

“Yeah?” 

“Um, well. About the thing, you know. That your mum said. I -”

Niall jolts, pulling away from Zayn, eyes wide. “No!” He says, panicked. 

Zayn’s whole face shuts down, his eyes going blank. “Oh,” He says, and lies down, shifting so that his back is to Niall. Niall looks at the curve of his spine, and feels like hitting himself for his own stupidity. 

Gently, he reaches out and touches Zayn’s shoulder. Zayn flinches, but doesn’t pull completely away - so Niall shifts down so that his chin is resting on Zayn. “I didn’t mean it like that,” He says. Zayn snorts, and the shift of his body jolts Niall, slightly. 

“Oh yeah? How did you mean something like that, then?” 

“I didn’t mean, like,  _ no _ no. I just meant, um, I meant no you can’t ask me. Because, er,” Niall is bright red, now, suddenly glad that Zayn isn’t facing him. “I was planning to ask you,” He finally whispers. Zayn sits up abruptly, completely dislodging Niall. 

“What?” He says, looking down at where Niall has been tipped onto the mattress. Niall smiles up at him, softly, reaching up to touch his face and following his hand up to sit in front of him, so they’re looking at each other. Zayn’s eyes are wide open, his lips parted just slightly. He’s staring at Niall in disbelief. 

“Yeah,” Niall shrugs. “I have a ring, and all. I’ve had it for a while,” He smiles, ruefully and Zayn looks stunned. “I just, I don’t have it with me at the moment. Like, I didn’t think I’d need it when I was dealing with my ma, did I?” 

Zayn’s throat works silently for a few seconds, before he finally croaks out, “You have a ring?” His voice is scratchy, and he reaches up and grabs Niall’s hand where it’s resting on his cheek. Niall can feel the gentle tremble in his fingertips, and he laughs. “So,” Zayn says, taking a quiet breath in. “You were going to ask me something?”

Niall grins, shaking his head. “Nah,” He says. “Don’t think I will, now. You’ve ruined it, haven’t you? Was gonna do a proper proposal, all flowers and a meal and Eabha was going to bring you the ring. You messed that all up, now, though haven’t you?” Broken my daughter’s heart.” 

“Shut up,” Zayn says. He’s smiling the widest that Niall has ever seen, and he tips close to Niall, so that their foreheads are pressed together. “Shut up, oh my god. You have a ring, like. You have a  _ ring _ , Niall.”

“I do,” Niall says. He’s trying to keep a straight face - but the smile keeps breaking through. “Yeah, I have a ring.” 

“Yes,” Zayn says. He’s pressing eclectic kisses all over Niall’s face, over the top of his eyebrows, on the bones of his cheeks, on his chin, his nose. “Yes, I will marry you, you fuck.”

“I don’t recall asking you a question,” Niall grins. Zayn’s hands are bracketing both of his cheeks, and he pulls him in for a long kiss. He’s crying, wet tears on his cheeks, and Niall can taste them. It doesn’t matter.

“Sh,” Zayn says, when he pulls away. He laughs, slightly - a happy noise, his eyes still open and clear. “Sh, oh my  _ god _ , you have a fucking ring. I, like. I can’t believe this. Oh my god. I’m Eabha’s dad. I’m going to marry you. I love you so much. I love you so, so much, Niall.”

“I love you too,” Niall says, quietly. “I love you so much,” He pulls at Zayn, until he’s sitting completely on his lap. “I love you to death, and I’m so glad that you’re going to marry me, but you have to be the one to tell Eabha that we’re not doing the fancy meal anymore. She was really excited for that.” 

“It’s fine,” Zayn sniffs, pressing his face into Niall’s neck. “It’s fine, she can still give me the ring. The ring doesn’t even matter. You want to marry me. Oh my gosh, you want to marry me.”

“You’re a sap,” Niall laughs. Then he freezes, his eyes going wide, and a look of complete horror settling on his face. 

“What?” Zayn says. “What is it, Niall? Tell me?” 

“I’ve just realised,” Niall swallows. “That my mother is going to be  _ insufferable  _ tomorrow.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, it is done. It's been a wild ride and I am so, so glad that it's finally over aha! When I first started this with Pia I NEVER thought that it would be over 10k. And, to be honest - there was a few more things that I could have written but I think it's best to let this baby just lie and rest. I love _all_ of your support, it's been unbelievable and I'm so grateful. This is the only WIP I've ever done, and the only WIP I will do. I'm glad I did it though! I'm glad y'all were along for the ride  <3

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on a shared Google doc file entitled, "Too good to forget" for so long. It was the result of many headcanons between myself and [Pia kissingziall](http://kissingziall.tumblr.com), and, because it's her birthday and I love her (and these headcanons) very much, I thought it was about time I churned them into something real. 
> 
> Title from One Direction's song, "Never Enough" because I can't name things anymore and it was stuck in my head when I made this as a draft.
> 
> Questions? Complaints? A new theory on the zombie apocalypse? Hmu [@niallhiran](http://niallhiran.tumblr.com)


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